OLD TESTAMENT PARENTHESES (14)
"(For the Lord hath given me many sons)" 1 Chronicles 28:5
ALTHOUGH David's words suggest that he was proud of his offspring, we may perhaps be forgiven if we question any such emotion. The names of six of these sons are given in 2 Samuel 3:3. They make sorry reading.
AMNON'S disgraceful behaviour makes us almost ready to tolerate violence on the part of Absalom, his half-brother, though of course we cannot condone treacherous murder. The story of Amnon's infamy, including his disgraceful repudiation of the girl he had wronged, is told in 2 Samuel 13:14-17; and then we are informed, if you please, that "When king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth" (v.21). He was furious, was he? Yet he did nothing at all to punish the offender. Perhaps it was his own bad conscience over that sort of thing which restrained him, or was it regarded as just a family matter?
THIS brings us to Absalom, David's son by another wife. As I have said, we feel some sympathy with him over the wrong done to his sister but, as the story unfolds, we soon lose any better feelings for him, since he turned out to be so ambitious and treacherous that he was ready to kill off his father as he had already murdered one of that father's sons (2 Samuel 16:11). He did not succeed, for God had purposes of great importance bound up with David, so it was Absalom who himself died, though that was quite against David's wishes. The grief which the king felt when Absalom was killed may arouse our compassion, but we find it hard to disagree with Joab who called him to his senses, charging him with being more indulgent to this enemy than he was grateful to his loyal helpers (2 Samuel 19:6).
WE are not told how David treated three of the others, but we are informed that he thoroughly spoiled his eldest surviving son, Adonijah (l Kings 1:6). The result of this indulgence was disastrous. The man became a crafty plotter who did his best to usurp the throne which the Lord destined for yet another of David's sons, Solomon. Once again the attempted coup failed, but the whole episode was sordid and God-dishonouring.
WE therefore have to report that while David could thank God for giving him many sons, his home and his family provided little honour for God's name and much that was discreditable to a man so blessed. David wept over one of them: God might well have wept over all these three.
SO much for our parenthesis. The surrounding narrative presents to us the chosen successor to David's throne whose earlier years were highly satisfactory to God and beneficial to the people. From the first Solomon had been chosen by God above his brothers, just as David himself had been preferred to the rest of Jesse's sons, and in the end he became Israel's great king. There was little to David's credit in this, except that to judge by Solomon's words in Proverbs 3:11-12, this son at least had known the disciplining hand of his loving father.
WHAT emerges so encouragingly for us is the realisation that not all the follies and failures of God's servants can affect His sovereign will. In spite of everything God's perfect plan was realised. When it comes to it, we all have our foolish parentheses of which we do well to be ashamed. Thank God that His sovereign purpose goes steadily forward. He will work and no-one shall hinder Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment